Two mapping ideas in as many days! But, to be fair, this one is only a matter of cell resizing and shading in 3 colours (4 if you count the background). The idea came when I saw a Reddit post linking to this page. It’s only a short jog from their ‘The Mephitic Laboratory Of The Pescamancer‘ map to my IsoExcel idea. I also borrowed the colour scheme, which looks like a good one.

I’ve added my usual pop-ups to make it a super compact dungeon.

Template and demo video

You can download the Excel Widget here and wizz off maps that look like the above fairly easily. Here’s a brief video demo:

Google Sheets

I think this should work in Google Sheets, and when I get a moment, I’ll make a template.

Background

Not quite sure where this idea came from. But, I remembered that tile shops often sell sheets of tiles on flexible mesh backing. These are normally made up of lot so little (i.e. about an inch across) squares. I believe they are called mosaic tiles. I then wondered if they did a hexagonal version. They do:

If you’ve not seen these before, you stick down the flexible mesh sheet and fill in the spaces with grout. Normally the tiles are small squares.

… anyway, I think you will probably see where I’m going with this now.

Using the tile set as is

Think white board, but made of lots of little hexes.

You can mark straight on these tiles with a marker to make a hex terrain map on-the-go.

Or, you could use this as a tactical miniature map template and place minis directly on it.

Clearly, buy tiles that are not porous, or you could simply varnish them.

Making a custom tile set

Separate the tiles from the backing mesh to make lots of individual tiles. Paint/mark them. You might need to seal them, e.g. with varnish. Hey presto! you’ve make a versatile hex tile set.

Either place them out as the PCs explore, or draw them randomly out from a bag.

Obviously, if you’re going to make a lot of custom tiles, painting them in sets on the mesh makes more sense rather than separating them individually beforehand.

I figure, you could ‘spray can’ on the backing colour, then ‘potato stamp’ on the terrain feature (e.g. a tree for woods), perhaps using a bit of cut rubber or cork. If you are all arty, you could paint on the feature by hand. Varnish the tile set, I figure there is spray on varnish.

If you are super crafty, you might even be able to enamel the tiles too.

Cost

The above 144 tile (12 x 12) set is listed on the internet as GBP 5.99 (I took the first hit), which works out to be about 5 pence (about 7 cents) per tile.

Have I missed something obvious? Is this old news? Can the idea be improved? I’d be interested to hear more.

Illustrative video

For an idea of physical dimensions please see this video I found on YouTube:

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

BackgroundI think anyone reading this blog post will probably remember MAD Magazine, and in particular the inside back cover, which often had a picture which would fold-in to form a new unexpected picture.

I wondered if a RPG map in this format would present some interesting gaming challenges. For example, the PCs trigger some event and suddenly the map literally expands. Perhaps an interesting trap for a heist type adventure. For example, it might be easy to get into the tomb, but a great deal harder to get out again. This idea might work well for a Cthulhu adventure where mind-bending antics are the norm.

Anyway, I had this idea because someone posted a vertical (cross-sectional map) on G+. Sadly, I can’t recall who did this now. I believe it was someone that I was following, but not someone I interacted with a lot. For some unknown reason this MAD idea immediately occurred to me when I saw their map. So, no random third-party G+ post, no MAD idea from me. This completely random cross-pollination of ideas will be one of the the thing I miss most about G+ when it is gone (in about a week).

In the wild

After posting this idea, at least one person (i.e. Eneko Menica on YouTube) put the idea into practice, with this nice map, i.e.:

More recently from me …

I saw this post by Skerples. for a new collaborative project about a sort of Twilight Zone locomotive. I decided to make a train carriage that makes use of this MAD concept.

The idea being the train carriage is about 2/3 normal size (top image). But, if the PC’s solve the puzzle an inter-dimensional portal opens between the carriage (bottom image). So, when triggered, the DM unfolds the map to reveal the portal. The PC’s may even be separated by the portal space when it is triggered causing some potential problems. You can read my submission here (along with the other submissions to date).

Skerples.’s idea is a fun one, please consider submitting your own entry to this collaborative project.

Well that’s it. If you ever make a MAD map, I’d be interested in seeing it!
:O)

So this idea is probably not going to ‘feel right’ under some game settings, especially gritty settings. But for more Gonzo, sci-fi or children-friendly settings this idea might work well enough. It’s your game, you’ll know.

For reference, below are the 108 cards in a standard UNO deck.

Method

Simply shuffle the Uno deck and deal or ask the players to draw a card (either individually, or for the party if that’s how your group plays initiative). DM draws for the monsters.

The card holder goes on the segment that appears on their card (10 segments in a standard old school combat round) , e.g. 2 means go on segment 2. So low values are good. You’ll need to decide if “0” are high or low.

With a card in hand, no one has to remember who goes next.

Some optional rules …

Colours

In case of a draw, the colour of the card can be used as a tie breaker, e.g. like rock, paper scissors:

beats beats beats beats

Wild Card Cards

So what to do about the fancy wild card cards?

Well the simplest thing to do is to discard them (pun not resisted).

But here are some possible options:

No way! A fumble – the card holder loses their turn

Free movement – get a free movement and draw another card for initiative

or … can swap for the monster’s card

Too Fast – draw two more cards and pick the best

or … double header; attack in the first and last segment of the round

Opps … card holder is surprised

Foresight – card holder is 4 segments ahead of the game and goes before all others;

or … redraw a number card and take 4 off the total;

or … draw 4 cards and take the best number card

If the there is an “or …” option, pick the one that will suit your game.

Tuesday Toot – G+ is closing. When it was alive things happened. Things unexpected. Great things. Whilst my creative output is only modest, I thought I’d hold something up into the living light, something that came about purely because G+ existed … This is a toot to G+.

Background

A monster I posted on G+, which I dashed off on a piece of paper and posted. I’ve typed it up below for legibility.

It’s essentially a dangerous mechanic driven monster. Probably useful to have a henchman (or something) torn apart first, so the PC’s take the thing seriously. With a weak AC (especially when attached) the PC’s should be able to deal with the thing, if they take the threat seriously.

Disadherer

When the Monster splits the party …

A possible relative of the Adherer (see FF page 9).

The Monster is a mass of sticky limbs, which latch onto a victim’s arms and legs trying to rip them off.

Health – the creature has 4D8 limbs, each having 1HP. When wiggling about, these have AC5, but when latched onto a victim, they have an AC8. When all of its limbs are lopped off, it slopes away to reconstitute itself.

Attacks – It attacks as a 4HD monster, able to attack each combat opponent twice each round (provided it still has some remaining/free limbs), when it makes a hit it immobilises one of the victim’s arms or legs: